Honest
by BeautifulFiction
Summary: Everybody lies, but not this time. RoyEd fluffy, angsty oneshot.


_Author's Notes: This isn't part of the Babylon universe. It could be, if you wanted it to be, but it isn't really. Think of it as ambiguous. _

**Honest**

Everybody lies.

Ed had learned that at a young age, when his father had walked away. Hohenheim had told them that he would be back one day soon and, without a backward look, abandoned them to all the hell that fate had in store. Edward could still remember the endless days of waiting and the gradual dwindle of his hopes and memories. In the end all that lingered was the scent of his father's cologne and his books. Now, even they were gone.

A few years later untruths slipped past his mother's lips. Forgiveable, but painful none-the-less. Her empty reassurances had done nothing to lighten the blow of her death. As she had slipped away from them, all Ed could do was wish that her lies had been truths, and that she wasn't really leaving them behind.

Was it really any surprise then, that he had grown up thinking that deceit was a way of life? He had learned that it was acceptable to hide the facts among the subtle slide of misdirection. He watched Mustang do it every day. He would make a suggestion, subtly allowing his willing audience to believe they had made the decision themselves. It was just another kind of subterfuge; a gentle manipulation of the truth.

Even Al, innocent that he was, never told the real depths of his feelings. After his body was returned and they had settled down in Central, he continued to soothe Ed's latent guilt with false reassurances. Whatever Alphonse believed, it didn't change reality. Al had lost his body, and it was Ed's fault. Nothing changed that.

And so Edward lied. Every day with a smile he would tell them he was fine. Nothing was the matter. Nothing was wrong. Day to day he would go on, accepting the mission, doing his job and living a fiction. He would never admit that he felt alone, so near and yet so very far from everyone, shrouded in a blanket of falsehood.

All through his young life he had seen the guile of others, and with the painful knowledge of their endless deception there came one conciliation. Their lips may speak nothing but prevarication, and their cheeks may flush with false emotion, but nothing could hide the truth that shone out in their eyes.

In his father's there had been a ruthless apology, even as he swore he would return. It was as though he knew what the future held, and acknowledged that he would not be there to help them. There had been no tears or sorrow, only a hard, brutal admission that this was the way things had to be.

Trisha, his mother, had held back her tears, reassuring them even as the fear and grief clouded hazel irises. She could see it happening, her death approaching like a storm on the horizon. Yet in some way her lies became her truths. She may have died, but she had never left them. Both he and Al carried a part of her with them always, and they needed only to look at each other to be reminded of the woman who had raised them with such devotion. In that there was a pure honesty that even Edward couldn't refute.

The first time that Al had said it wasn't Ed's fault that his body was lost, there had been no gaze to reassure him. Pinpoints of light, unemotional and mechanic, had been the only window to the boy's soul. He had to rely on the words alone, and he did not believe them for a moment. Now Al's eyes shone with faith in what he uttered. It wasn't Ed's fault. It never would be. Al believed it, even if Ed didn't. Perhaps that meant he was lying to himself.

Mustang was the only one who tried to hide the truth in his scrutiny. He would blink and glance away, and it seemed to work for other people. They took his word and lived by it, and it seemed that Ed was the only one who noticed the disparity between what he was saying and the expression in his eyes.

That was where they stood now, locked in a contradiction of words and looks, voice and expressions. The opulence of the office had faded away, meaningless, and all Ed could do was yell and swear, letting his tongue tell tales while every glance had a story of its own.

'I hate you!'

Mustang's back stiffened, and his impossible dark eyes met Ed's: black onto gold; the night to the sun. They hesitated there, and while Roy's previous words had held only disappointment, Edward could see pride. While his face was fixed with indifference, the reality was there, locked behind the cage of his lashes. Hurt, pain, passion...

And Ed realised that if he could see all that in Roy's eyes then his own truth would be equally on display. His lips said one thing while his expression refuted it.

No.

Softer, defeated this time, he spoke again, trying to force the metamorphosis of fable into fact. 'I hate you.'

'No you don't, Fullmetal. You're lying.' Like a tiger on the prowl Mustang moved closer. Limbs moving in the slow, measured pace of a man who knew that he had the upper hand. It wasn't an examination; it was a visual interrogation. Ed shied away, half-turning to stare out of the window, refusing to meet Roy's gaze.

A gloved hand brushed against his jaw, impossibly close, but he didn't pull away. It had never been in Ed's nature to back down from a fight. Even when he was blatantly vanquished he did not surrender. He bared his teeth in a mute snarl, ignoring the betrayal of his own flesh as his cheeks flushed, and his body hardened in response to Roy's proximity and scent.

'What do you think you're doing, bastard?' he growled, letting the falsity of his anger show in his voice; a pantomime of fury.

Mustang's eyes flashed fire, hot and dark. 'Proving you wrong.'

The hand on his jaw tightened a touch, holding him still as Roy claimed Ed's mouth with his own. His tongue skated across his pout, teeth nipping and seeking entrance. In a heartbeat Edward willingly parted his lips, tasting and being tasted all at once. It was neither defeat nor surrender. It was an alliance. All pretences fell away as his eyelashes fluttered under the assault. One hand move automatically to Mustang's hip, pulling him closer as automail fingers tangled in Roy's shirt, holding him a captive to the kiss.

A growl, deep and feral, rumbled in Roy's chest as his hand splayed across Edward's back. Deft fingers wove into his braid, loosening his locks and trailing fingertips across the nape of his neck. The lightest pressure held him steady and kept him in place, making soundless promises as Ed arched his back closer, letting his body convey what his voice could not.

For the first time in years Roy's lips told the truth, and Edward answered in kind.

Everybody lies, but not this time.

**End**

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_Author's Note:_ _I was savaged by a bunny. Since I needed practice with fluff I thought I'd go for it. Also, I hadn't used my thesaurus for a while. Who knew there could be so many words for "lie"? _

_I hope this random little fic, for all its oddity, is at least an interesting read. It just goes to show what happens when an ill writer is let on the loose._

_Beaut xxx _


End file.
